ENOVA RAISES SUFFICIENT CAPITAL TO COMMENCE RETAIL OPERATIONS

On December 15, two days before the closing of their share offer, Enova Community Energy announced that it had secured more than the required minimum to commence retail operations in the NSW Northern Rivers area.  So Enova is set to become the first community owned electricity supplier in the country.  Its progress is certain to be watched with interest by people in other parts of Australia who are keen to see the expansion of renewable energy as well as communities taking power over their own energy futures.

Of the $3,238,000 raised by the time of the announcement, nearly 75% of the total of 857 share applicants came from the local community.  "This indicates the high level of local support from the local community, making us determined to take control of our renewable future, providing local jobs, enabling new technologies and community benefit projects across the Northern Rivers Region,"  said Alison Crook, the Enova Chair.

Some background on the establishment of Enova was given on September 19 in a CVCC post Enova: New Northern Rivers Energy Retailer.

For further information:  Enova website.

Founding Partners, L-R Steve Harris, Alison Crook, Melissa Mac Court, Patrick Halliday

 

SAVING NORTHERN TERRITORY QUOLLS FROM CANE TOADS

The Northern Quoll (Dasyuris hallucatus) , a carnivorous marsupial, is the smallest of the four Australian quoll species.  It is listed as endangered under the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity (EPBC) Act.  In the Northern Territory it was listed as critically endangered in 2012.

 Photo: Australian Wildlife Conservancy

Northern Quolls, once very common in the northern part of the Northern Territory, became critically endangered as feral cane toads[1] spread across the north. Twelve years ago quolls from the Darwin and Kakadu areas were collected and relocated to two cane-toad free islands with suitable habitat off north-east Arnhem Land.  They have flourished there and now number in the thousands.

Some of these quolls are now to be returned to the mainland where they will be trained to leave cane toads alone. Initially they will be re-housed in the Territory Wildlife Park where they will be fed on cane toad sausages.  This food, which will smell like cane toad, will make the quolls ill.  The scientists conducting this conditioned taste aversion program expect that the quolls will learn to reject the toads as a food source. After the training they will be released in the Mary River district of Kakadu National Park which contains suitable quoll habitat.

The animals which are released will be closely monitored so that the success of the program can be gauged.

An earlier trial of this taste aversion in Kakadu led to the survival of some quolls and the passing on of the cane toad aversion to baby quolls – which gives the scientists hope that quolls can be successfully reintroduced to areas where cane toads are living.

There are also plans to use the cane toad sausages with wild quolls in the Kimberley area in the hope this will lead to their survival in spite of the toad invasion.

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[1] Cane toads (Bufo marinus), natives of Central and South America, were introduced to Queensland in 1935 in the mistaken belief that they would control pest beetle in sugar crops.  Since then they have moved south along the east coast with established populations as far south as the Clarence Valley (Yamba and Brooms Head) in NSW and west across the Queensland savanna into the Northern Territory and across into northern Western Australia. They have had a devastating impact on native wildlife which has eaten them  (e.g. goannas and quolls)

THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AND THE ENVIRONMENT

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement between Australia and another 11 countries around the Pacific, has been negotiated over a period of five years. It is significant because the countries involved collectively represent over 40 per cent of world Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The text of this agreement was recently released.  After years of speculation Australians now have the opportunity to see details of what the federal Government has declared will bring enormous benefits to the country.

The chapter on the environment is a matter of concern to community members who see the long-term necessity for strong environmental protection.

Matthew Rimmer, Professor in Intellectual Property and Innovation Law at Queensland University of Technology has pointed out some weaknesses.

“The agreement has poor coverage of environmental issues, and weak enforcement mechanisms.  There is only limited coverage of biodiversity, conservation, marine capture fisheries, and trade in environmental services.  The final text of the chapter does not even mention ‘climate change’ – the most pressing global environmental pressure in the world.”

Australia’s Trade Minister, Andrew Robb, dismissed concerns about the treaty not addressing climate change claiming that as a trade agreement it did not need to address climate change.

Trade agreements deal with economic matters.  Climate change is an economic issue because to reduce its impact we need to move to a low carbon economy which obviously presents enormous economic challenges – and opportunities.  Failure to see the need to include climate change suggests an ostrich-type head in the sand mentality.

Another concern is the controversial clause giving foreign companies the right to sue Australian governments which introduce laws they claim have harmed their investments. We have already seen this clause in use in another trade agreement with a cigarette company suing Australia over its plain packaging laws.

Minister Robb has claimed that he has negotiated safeguards on this.  However, Dr Patricia Ranald from the Australia Fair Trade and Investment Network said, “The general ‘safeguards’ in the text are similar to those in other recent agreements which have not prevented cases against health and environmental laws.”

There are serious environmental concerns about the TPP.

-          Leonie Blain

This post was published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column of The Daily Examiner on November 16, 2015.